His selection of the defiantly moderate Bill Daley as his new chief of staff, which drew predictable fire from liberals Thursday, underscores Obama’s determination to run from the center in 2012 and somewhat neutralize the outright hostility of many business groups to his administration.

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Within the White House, it represents a changing of the guard that Obama’s close-knit staff long denied would happen in the wake of the midterms, and it is likely to lead to some major changes in the way the White House operates.

The improvisational campaign mentality that has been the Obama White House’s fundamental style is likely to be supplanted by a more methodical focus on the mechanics of governance, organization building and relationship repairs — a shift from attention deficit disorder to obsessive compulsive disorder, to use clinical terms.

Unlike live-wire former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who left to run for mayor of Chicago, the job currently held by Daley’s older brother Richard, the agreeable former Clinton administration commerce secretary isn’t likely to become a domineering West Wing inside player.

Nor is Daley — whose easygoing personality and political savvy made him a favorite golf and movie buddy of President Bill Clinton’s — likely to challenge established Obama power player David Plouffe, who arrives at the White House as Daley’s nominal deputy on Monday, or interim chief of staff Pete Rouse, who will serve as counselor to the president.

Instead, Obama sees Daley as an insider’s outsider, lending a new perspective, honed during years in the private sector, to an organization often criticized for its insularity and Big Government mind-set.

People around Obama say the president wants Daley to build bridges with other outsiders — the news media, Republicans, Democrats who have felt alienated by Obama’s close-knit team and, above all, business groups.

“He will not be the only organizational and operational center in this White House. He’ll share that role with David and Pete,” said a person close to Obama.

“But this is a guy who can help us reach out to the business community, which is very important. ... He’s a known commodity, but the president doesn’t know him well, which means he can add a fresh voice to the inner circle.”

White House talking points on the new chief of staff, obtained by POLITICO, tout Daley’s “profound awareness of how our systems of government and politics work” — a critical skill set at a time when the White House is girding for GOP attacks on health care reform, domestic spending programs and multiple investigations by Republicans in the House.